What's in a Name
by Mistress Desdemona
Summary: Captain Simon Wells explains to his daughter the importance of her name. Spoilers for Heroes part 2. oneshot


Nine year old Janet Wells marched into the house in a huff. Her father saw her enter the house, but before he could rise from his place on the couch and utter so much as a "Hey, sweetie, how was your day?", the little girl was in her room. Her mother, Marcy, came through the door moments later, a weary look on her face.

"You need to talk to her, Simon," she said, closing the door behind hear.

Captain Wells sighed as he stood to greet his wife with a kiss. He was used to his daughter's moods and fits, and he knew that even though the girl was very close to her mother, what with Simon at the SGC or off-world so much of the time, there were still some things that only her father could make better. _Most kids wait until they're teenagers to have these kinds of mood swings_ he thought. _Of course, our Janet has never done things as expected._

"What is it this time?" he asked.

"She thinks she has a stupid name."

"What?" Simon asked, surprised. This was not what he'd expected to hear.

"She doesn't like her name. She thinks it's plain and boring and not pretty. She wants a name like Bethany or Bayley or Jennifer or Lyndsay or Ashley or Morgan, like all her friends. She thinks Janet is dumb and old-fashioned."

"Did you tell her why we named her Janet?"

"I tried, but she wouldn't listen to me."

Simon closed his eyes for a long moment. He and Marcy had named their Janet after a very special person, a person to whom he owed his life. He just wished she could see that.

"I'll explain it to her. Jan and I are going to take a little trip; we'll be back by dinner, okay?"

Marcy touched his arm and nodded. "Okay".

Janet's door was slightly ajar, so Simon didn't knock, just poked his head in. "Janet, put your shoes back on, we're going for a little drive."

The girl looked up at him, confused. "Why?"

"Just put on your shoes and c'mon." Five minutes later, the pair was in the car, and Janet was telling her dad all about her day at school.

"And in art class today we made little name posters that we could decorate however we wanted and…" The nine year old trailed off.

"And…?" her father prompted.

"And then we started talking about our names and Daddy why did you and Mom have to name me Janet, it's just so _plain_!"

Simon looked at his daughter, used to her run-ons, all exhaled in one breath. "Mom told me she tried to explain to you on the way home from school today."

"She told me about some doctor you used to work with who helped you once, but Daddy you get hurt at work all the time, and you're o.k., you didn't have to name me after her!"

They were at the cemetery now. Simon stopped the car and got out, telling his daughter to do the same.

"Why are we here?" Simon took his daughter's hand and led her along between the perfectly straight lines of headstones.

"Let me tell you the whole story of that day. It was a few weeks before you were born, and I was on one of those top secret missions I do sometimes. The bad guys came out of nowhere. A lot of people were badly hurt, and rescue team had to be sent. Doctor Janet Frasier came with them. I was hurt really badly, and I thought I was going to die. Doc Frasier refused to let me. She sat there in the middle of the battlefield and helped me, because I was too badly hurt to be moved. The fight was getting really bad, and she could have left me there, but she stayed and worked her magic. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't be here today." The pair had stopped walking, but young Janet was too caught up in her father's story to notice. "She had just gotten me stable enough to move, when a shot came out of nowhere. It killed her instantly." Simon looked at the headstone they had stopped at. "She died saving my life."

It was only then that the young girl noticed that they had stopped. She looked at the headstone in front of them, a headstone that read MAJ. DR. JANET FRASIER.

"Doctor Frasier was brilliant. She saved the lives of nearly every person on base at one time or another; some lives she had to save more than once. She saved people from diseases that most people have never even heard of. She ran her infirmary like no one else could; you just didn't want to mess with Doc Frasier. And she cared about every person on that base. She took her vow to save lives very seriously, and she always did everything in her power to save her patients. Janet Frasier was an amazing person. _That's_ who your mom and I named you after. Not just some doctor. The wonderful doctor who died saving my life." He looked his daughter right in the eyes. "Who gave me the chance to meet you."

The young girl was speechless. She couldn't imagine life without her daddy; without his hugs or his kisses goodnight or his stories or his Super Special Spaghetti. And if this lady hadn't saved him, Janet never would have known her father.

"Why did she have to die?" she asked in a very small voice. "It's not fair. It's not right."

"That's what I said. But a lot of things aren't fair, and a lot of things aren't right. We just try to make it better, and remember the things that are right. Like the fact that I have a beautiful daughter who I love very much and who I get to watch grow up." Simon hugged his daughter, and he couldn't help but smile as she hugged him back. He took her hand, and they walked back to the car.

"Daddy, I was wrong."

"About what?"

"About having a stupid name. I like my name, now. It means something."

"Yes, sweetie, yes it does."


End file.
